Dexter: Resurrection, the latest installment in the 20-year-old Dexter television universe, sees the return of Michael C. Hall‘s beloved serial killer character. But he’s not alone, as David Zayas is also back as Angel Batista, Dexter’s former colleague at Miami Metro Homicide.
Revisiting their relationship after two decades was “amazing,” Hall tells Gold Derby. “We never stopped shaking our heads at how incredible it was to be working together again.” As actors, they didn’t have to create a backstory, because they had “real, 20-year-old memories to draw on.”
Angel spends the first season of Resurrection investigating Dexter as the infamous Bay Harbor Butcher, against Dexter’s dire warnings. Ultimately, it leads to his death at the hands of Peter Dinklage’s serial killer-obsessed Leon Prater and his right-hand woman, Uma Thurman’s Charley. But that doesn’t necessarily mean that Angel is out of sight, out of mind.
“In the world of Dexter, never say never,” Hall says with a laugh. After all, Angel still resides “in Dexter’s mind and heart,” and fans have grown accustomed to seeing deceased characters return as visions in what Hall calls his “interior landscape.”
Read on for our full interview with Hall, in which he talks about working with Thurman and Dinklage, and why Emmy love for the sequel series “would be a recognition that our dice-roll worked.” He also teases what he can about Season 2, including Dexter’s newfound “desire to be recognized.”
Gold Derby: Fans were excited to see you reunite with David Zayas as Angel Batista. What was it like filming with him again after all these years?
Michael C. Hall: It was amazing. Over the course of the season, we never stopped shaking our heads at how incredible it was to be working together again, revisiting that relationship. As an actor, you try to have a sense of the backstory — whatever came before leads you to whatever moment you’re simulating. In our case, we didn’t have to imagine it. We had real, 20-year-old memories to draw on, of scenes we’d played and work we’d done. To be able to sit in that is a pretty unique, delicious chance as an actor. You don’t usually get to have that.
So many of Dexter’s friends and family members have died over the years, and now we can add Angel to that list. Unless there are some twists coming up?
You know, in the world of Dexter, never say never. [Laughs] And of course, even if someone’s dead, it doesn’t mean that they can’t appear in some sort of depiction of his interior landscape. But yeah, that was really tough. Angel, as much as anybody in Dexter’s world, was as close to an actual friend. Dexter, with this new sense of himself, encounters Angel again, but circumstances being what they are, he doesn’t really have access to that free-flowing friendship. He tries to wish it away, but Batista’s own sense of right and wrong and justice backs both characters into a corner.
Dexter hopes against hope, and tries to free him, but the die is cast. That was a really heavy scene for the character. I felt like I needed to embody what I knew was the collective sense of loss that the audience would be experiencing — and Dexter is experiencing it, too. That scream that happens at the end of [Episode] 9, I felt like he has to let something out on his own behalf, but also on behalf of everyone watching.
Is Angel’s spirit going to be alive in the next season? Is he going to be mentioned at all?
I think it’s reasonable to expect that Angel will still reside in Dexter’s mind and heart. And yeah, we might explore that.
Uma Thurman joined the Dexter universe as Charley, a mysterious character who meets her match with Dexter. How would you describe their relationship?
Dexter is someone who doesn’t fit into the box she’s created for these other unsavory people that she manages on behalf of Prater. They have this adversarial energy that goes on throughout that season, but what’s interesting is the two of them are probably more alike than anybody else in that world. It’s been amazing to work with her. It’s so gratifying to come back and be able to attract someone of that caliber to join us.
Tell us about working with Peter Dinklage as Leon Prater.
Oh, he’s great. He’s a total pro. He has such a liquid sense of play in how he works and approaches things. You’re only as good as the people you’re throwing the ball back and forth with, and he’s an amazing teammate.
Emmy voting is now open. What would it mean for Dexter: Resurrection to get some Emmy love?
It would be really gratifying. It’s a wild thing to return to something that had such a moment in the past, and that’s experiencing some new moment. If that recognition comes, we’d certainly welcome it. I think it would be a recognition that our dice-roll worked.
You were nominated at the Emmys for Six Feet Under and Dexter, and you won the Golden Globe and Actor Award, among others. What do awards mean to you personally?
It’s nice to be nominated for something. It’s certainly a more pleasant experience to win than not. [Laughs] But acting awards are strange in that we’re not all running the same race. Everybody’s doing a very different thing, and it’s a completely subjective affair. You try to keep all that in perspective. It’s not why you do it, but it’s certainly nice.
Not counting industry awards, what was the first award you ever won, even going back to when you were a kid?
I played Little League football, and when they started weighing the kids, below the 75-pounders were the Ankle Biters. I remember I got a trophy for the Ankle Biter Bowl when I was probably 7 or 8. But to be honest, I think it might have been more of a participation trophy than anything else.
I think we need to add that to your Wikipedia page.
Yeah, I participated in the circa-1979 Ankle Biter Bowl. [Laughs]
Season 2 of Dexter: Resurrection is filming now. Is there anything you can tease about what fans can expect?
I don’t want to give anything away, but we’re going to flash-forward a little bit. We’ll see Dexter on the other side of this crazy encounter he had with all the killers presented to him by the magical, very dark world that Prater provided. We see a guy who’s undeniably on the other side of a lot of experience and getting older and, maybe in spite of himself, caring about a sense of his legacy. Dexter, as he becomes more human, or more integrated with the light and the dark, or the human and the monster, falls victim to all-too-human things in a way that he once didn’t. One of those is maybe a desire to be recognized, and that’s a tricky thing when your survival is dependent on hiding.
Season 1 of Dexter: Resurrection is streaming now on Paramount+ with Showtime.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
